Serial rapist‚ 70‚ gets multiple life sentences

A 70-year-old serial rapist has been handed multiple life sentences by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

Shadrack Ndibi Khumalo of Alexandra was sentenced to four life sentences and 10 years imprisonment for rapes he committed on five women. He lured his victims by making them believe that he had found jobs for them.

His reign of terror started in 2006 and targeted women around Johannesburg in areas like Linden‚ Edenvale‚ Midrand‚ Sophiatown and Montgomery Park. He arranged to meet with the victims in secluded places‚ where he then raped and robbed them.

He was arrested in 2015 and has been in custody since his arrest.

Acting Judge Anthony Thobane said Khumalo had accosted and lied to victims about job opportunities‚ and lambasted him for taking advantage of the vulnerability of his victims.

He said Khumalo chose his targets with precision. “Four of the five victims were between the ages of 20 and 30. [It] is the typical modus operandi of a serial rapist to target a specific age group. It was a well-thought [out] choice of victims.”

Thobane described Khumalo as a bad man whom society must rid itself of. “You have no respect for women and their rights. You came to court and lied‚” he said.

During the trial Khumalo initially denied raping the women and said he couldn’t have raped them as he was impotent.

After the state presented DNA evidence that linked him to the rapes‚ he changed his story and said the women were actually given to him by a sangoma to test that the medication that had been given to him worked‚ as he was impotent. He said the women were initiates of that sangoma.

During the trial‚ victims told the court how the rape robbed them of their lives.

One woman told the court that she now hated all men and could not trust them.

Another told the court her husband had left her as he could not believe her rape account. Another victim told the court she could no longer be intimate with her husband. The woman also said she was now scared to look for employment‚ fearing she might get raped again.

All the women told the court the rape left them feeling worthless.

Khumalo was sentenced to a further 75 years' imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

He was also sentenced to two years' imprisonment for pointing what resembled a firearm at his victims. All sentences will run concurrently.